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[R leans cautiously around a corner, grey fingers dusting over the crumbling concrete as he observes from a distance. He's not sure why he's watching - he'd call it fascination except he's not entirely sure that that's what he's feeling - but that's all he does, just stares, the vibrant, unnatural blue of his eyes riveted on the bundle in her arms.]

[He can't remember ever seeing a baby before. He thinks he must have at some point, a lifetime ago. But the only children he sees these days are the newly turned as they draw their first, rattling breaths, deadened limbs creaking with new found animation. The thought disturbs him more than it probably should.]

[Unbeknownst to him, R's mouth quirks into an unpractised half-smile, his purple lips drawing back over bloodied teeth. Their momentary contentment seems to be infectious.]

Edited 2013-08-10 23:09 (UTC)

[Ara is watching her curiously.]

( Maggie usually stays close to the main buildings of the prison since they're protected better than the outer buildings. But, with everyone outside that day, she finds herself carrying Judith away for some quiet (even if the air is filled with the moans of the walkers). She finds a place, perched off the ground so she can keep an eye out. While walkers normally don't get through the fence, one or two have been able to find the weak spots.

She's still humming, her eyes on Judith, and doesn't notice the walker peeking at her. He's quiet, unlike the others, and it isn't until she looks up that she catches a glance of him. Maggie's hand automatically goes to the Glock she has, but she finds herself pausing when she sees it smiling. It's something she's never seen before and it's almost as if it's watching them. Walkers don't watch; they attack.

But still, it's dangerous so she wraps her hand around the butt of her gun and slowly pulls it out, her eyes never leaving it. )

( Maggie looks up and blinks when she sees the little girl standing there. ) Hey. Are you lost?

[Ara tilts her head and nods.] I was looking for my friend and I saw you instead. I'm sorry, miss.

Oh? Well, maybe if you tell me what they look like, I can help you find them.

[His gaze falls and so too does his tentative smile when she draws her gun, lingering on the muzzle suddenly pointing in his direction. Maybe he should be concerned. For seemingly the first time, R glances around the complex he's inadvertently wandered into without realizing it as he'd blindly followed the existential smell of life from outside. It tastes like petrichor, burnt phosphorous and lavender, the potent mix lodging somewhere behind his brain. It's irresistible and, until a moment ago, R hadn't realized just how precarious his situation is. He shouldn't be here.]

[They're well protected, armed and surrounded by the same shambling corpses that he considers his... Companions is too strong a word. They're more like his peers. And she, beyond all probability, is carrying a baby. Frankly, R's only surprised she hasn't shot him already.]

[But he doesn't retreat like he probably should. He lingers, half-hidden behind the relative safety of his corner and, almost gagging on the dryness of his tongue, opens his mouth.] Huuh... Hi?

He is tall and skinny with dark hair and blue eyes like mine. I'm not bothering you, am I?

( Maggie hasn't shot him yet because something isn't right. She's been killing walkers for almost two years now, and she knows how they act. This one, however, is almost acting human. Especially when he starts to glance around. And, she's torn as to what to do. She wonders if she should go and get one of the others since she's starting to wonder if maybe she's dreaming this. Maybe the heat and lack of food was starting to get to her. Or, maybe she's dead.

She shakes her head, and grips the handle of her gun tight enough to turn her knuckles white. Her head turns and she looks at the walkers outside the fence, all of them growling and yanking, wanting to get in and get to her and Judith. She then looks back at the lone walker, and hes not doing the same. He has the chance to come after them, but he seems like he's scared.

And then... and then he speaks, and Maggie almost drops her gun and stares at him, her eyes wide. )

Y-You can talk?

No, you ain't bothering me. Just kinda surprised me is all. ( She then presses her lips together and tries to think if anyone in their extended group fits that description. The only tall, skinny man she knows is... ) You ain't lookin' for the Governor, are you?

Um, who is the Governer? Is he the bad man? Richard told me about him. I am looking for Richard. He is a lot nicer and builds things.

[R nods shakily in reply, his mouth working uselessly to form words but they catch in his throat. He chokes on them, the heavy mass of them lodging somewhere behind his tongue and, for a moment, he considers escaping while he still can, drawing back and away from her, his dirty, broken fingernails scraping over concrete.]

[This is a bad idea. Awful, really. The dead eat the living and the living kill the dead. That's how things are now. He doesn't like it, sure, and maybe he doesn't even understand why things are the way they are but it's easier not to question it.]

[But then his eyes find the top of Judith's head again - Judith who, at the end of the world, shouldn't exist at all - and he stops, taking a deep, unnecessary breath. R swallows thickly around the lump in his throat.] Uuh... D-don't -- [But, however hard he tries - and, given the wideness of his eyes, he's doing the very best he can - he can't get the words out and he settles instead for pointing vaguely in the directions of the other outbuildings, where he can smell more people hiding. He presses a finger to his lips.]

[Please don't get him in trouble.]

Yeah, the Governor is the bad man. And, I don't know anyone named Richard. Where's the last place you saw 'im?

( As Maggie continues to stare at the walker, she remembers one of the Woodburians telling them the Governor had a guy named Milton, who was studying walkers and doing experiments on them. None of them knew for sure what they had found out, if anything. But now she was wondering if maybe they had found something, and this walker was the result of it. Or, maybe the virus was starting to mutate and walkers were becoming human-like.

None of it made sense, really.

When he presses his finger to his lips, Maggie somehow understands what he means. She slowly lowers the gun, but makes no move toward him. If she didn't have Judith in her arms, she might actually stand, and walked closer to examine him. )

Why aren't you like them? ( She nods her head toward the feral walkers, who have this gray fingers wrapped around the chains of the fence, growling and wanting in. )

I don't like bad people, he needs to have his butt kicked. We were outside with those sick people and the sun was coming up. He had to ask the man with the pointed boots to let us in, now I cannot find him.

[Apologetically, R lifts a bony shoulder in some semblance of a shrug, tugging at the sleeves of his hoodie to give his hands something to do. He doesn't know. The others can sense the change in him too. They stare at him as he shambles past them, the ones who still have noses lifting them into the air, sniffing at him suspiciously. It's why he's separated himself from the group he was travelling with. It why, however inadvertently, he's here and he's alone and until Maggie pointed it out he hadn't realized just how much he's changed.]

[Why does he have to be different? Why can't he just be the same as every other zombie? Mindless, bloodthirsty. Life's so much simpler that way.]

[Cautiously, he steps out from around his corner, and dares a half-step forward, tentative and questioning.] ... Cuh. Can -? [He looks over his shoulder, at the walkers chomping their rotten teeth at them through the fence. He's not sure why but he doesn't want to go back out there. Not now. This, being here, seems more important.] Stay...?

( Maggie can't help but to softly laugh at the little girl's words. ) I agree, especially since he wasn't nice to me. ( Pointy boots? ) Do you mean Rick? Did he have a beard and dark hair?

( Everything this walker is doing is very human-like and Maggie's not sure how to take it. If she goes to tell someone else, they'll think she's crazy, and she'll never be able to touch Judith again. She'll be known as the crazy woman, who sat and talked to a walker.

But, she can't help but to feel like this is real. They live in a messed up world where anything is possible. Who's to say the walkers can't get their humanity back?

When he steps out, she cuddles Judith closer. And when he asks to stay, she just stares for a moment. )

You want to stay?

( It's possible if he stays hidden in the part of the prison they don't use. She'd have to make sure no one went to that part, unless it was her. And, dear lord, she was actually entertaining letting a walker stay in the prison. )

If you stay, you have to stay hidden, or one of the others will kill you.

All - already... dead. [His mouth quirks up at the corner, straining into what he hopes is a self-deprecating smile, like it's supposed to be a bad joke. It's just a shame that R can't quite remember what one of those is supposed to sound like yet.]

[Jerking his head in a juddering nod, R's eyes fall back on the baby in her arms - he can't stop looking at her, how small she is, how perfect - and tries to wet his dry, flaking mouth.] S-safe. Here. [Because of Judith. Because even though R still understands very little about the world, just barely flirting with his own humanity again, he knows that they'll do everything in their power to protect the baby and, by extension, him, if he can keep out of the way. He stands a greater chance of surviving in here than he does out there.]

[R insists.] Stay. Puh - please.

( The walker's joke gets a small smile out of her, and suddenly Maggie stops thinking she's crazy. If he wants to stay, then she'll let him stay. After all, her father has often said they needed to open up the prison to other survivors, and let them in. He probably didn't have this in mind, but it's kind of the same thing. And, she's finally understanding that maybe the other walkers aren't too nice to this one, especially since a few of them have turn their attention and growls toward him. ) Yes, it's safe here, but only if you stay out of the way, and not come into where all of us are living.

( It's a simple request that will keep both of them out of trouble. Maggie isn't in the mood to tell the others why she's letting a walker live in the prison. ) You can stay.

( She stands then and places her gun in its holster. With a wave of her hand, she motions for him to follow her to a small building that none of them use. The windows are broken out and half of the building has collapsed. It's not good for humans, but she's sure it's perfect for a walker. )

You can live in here, and you can walk around back here, but no coming to the front of the prison. And, this isprobably a stupid question, but do ya have a name?

[Sparing the walkers pressed against the razor wired fence a final glance, their mouths gaping in a parody of astonishment, R follows after Maggie as quickly as his own lumbering gait will allow, hands fisted into the front pocket of his hoodie. He doesn't argue against any of her conditions - he doubts he could voice them anyway, even if he had any - and shuffles after her, still keeping a healthy distance between them.]

[R can do with avoiding getting another hole blown into his chest.]

Muh - my name...? [He hasn't thought about it in a long time. After a while, the fact that he doesn't remember it, that he lost it at some point between dying and coming back to life, has stopped bothering him. Not that much of anything has bothered him, really, since he died. Zombies tend not to let too much get them down. And, really, what use is a name to him now, anyway? It's not like he's going to get invited to a lot of parties any time soon or anything.] ...Ruh. Rrrrr. [The sound rattles across his teeth, threatening to displace them.]

[R closes his eyes in concentration.] Rrrrrr.

( Maggie looks over her shoulder at the walker following behind her. She slows her pace, but doesn't get any closer. If she didn't have Judith, she might, but she won't. Not today, at least. Maybe some other day.

She pulls the door open, cringing when it screeches in protest. Her eyes scan the area, making sure no one is coming to see what the noise was. She then pauses when he tries to tell her his name. )

Your name is R? ( If that's not his name, then too bad because that's what Maggie is going to call him. She ushers him into the building, which looks to have housed some of the more insane prisoners. There's a couple cots in the middle of the room, and there are bars on the glass-less windows. It's not much, but it'll do. ) I'm Maggie, by the way.

It ain't much, but I think it'll do.

Magg...ie. [R grins - or tries to - because it's a new word he can add to his slowly expanding vocabulary and because he almost managed to say it without groaning in between. He leans around the frame of the door, inspecting inside the dilapidated room but only because he thinks it's what Maggie expects him to do. He doesn't much care what condition it's in, provided there's somewhere for him to hide. His needs are few, requiring neither food or sleep, although sometimes he likes to lie down and pretend that if he stays still long enough he might drift off without realizing it.]

[For now he shuffles back, giving Maggie room to skirt by him without things getting too cosy. He nods to the swaddle of blankets and small, kicking limbs in her arms insistently.] Safe. Puur -- Promise.

[The little vampire meant every word as she put her hands on her hips.] Well, you have been nice to me so if I see him, I can kick his butt for you.

Is that his name? He was very scruffy and looked sad too. Richard was talking to him before.

Thank you. That's kind of ya. ( If only Maggie knew what the little girl was. But, for all she knows, she's just a normal little girl with a lot of attitude. )

That would be Rick. He probably took Richard inside the prison. I can take you there if ya want.

( There's a small smile when he says her name. Maggie almost feels like she's made a new friend; one that doesn't know what happened to her a few months before, and one that won't constantly ask if she's alright. It's what she needs now, even if her new friend is a walker-slash-human. In this world, you find solace wherever you can find it.

She looks down at Judith when R nods toward her before looking up again. ) Thank you. She ain't mine. Her mama died, and her and her brother is all her daddy's got left. Don't think he'd survive if something were to happen to her.

( She looks at Judith again, who's chewing on her fist, and then back at R. ) Do ya eat like the others do?

Your welcome, you have to fight when someone wants to hurt people. [She had a lot of attitude either way, it is okay Maggie.]

That would be nice, please. I just wanted to make sure he was alright. We have met some very bad people before.

You're right about that.

( She waves for the little girl to follow her inside the prison. ) I think we all have met bad people. I'm gonna put Judith in her crib and ask where Richard is. Stay there. I'll be back.

There are a lot of them, miss.[Ara hesitated for a second or two but not enough to notice before her feet started moving after the woman.]

Well, alright, as long as we can find Richard. [She looked at the baby funny while they walked, she wasn't used to them. She had seen Humans with them before the sick people started killing everyone but never ventured close. They sort of smelled funny and cried a lot so they puzzled her.]

I'm sure we'll find him. ( When the little girl looks at Judith. )

Her name is Judith. Do you have any siblings?

[It feels like a loaded question and R shakes his head a little too quickly, the limp tangles of his hair sweeping across his widened eyes.] Nnn. Not... hungry.

[He opens his mouth to expand on the half-truth, to explain just how different he is to the others but his tongue feels deader than usual, numb. He can't bring himself to lie to her, to say that he, in all the time he's been dead, has never ripped apart a living person in a frenzy, gorging on hot, writhing flesh. And he can't say that he'd never consider doing it again. The future is too distant and too bleak to think about. Who knows where he'll be this time next week? Who's to say circumstances won't dictate his actions?]

[All R knows is, as of this moment, eating either her or Judith is the last thing on his mind. It's a truth that bares reiterating.] ... Not hungry.

Edited 2013-08-13 21:53 (UTC)

He is tall so he is hard to miss. [Her brow sort of scrunches together in thought, babies were still strange and confusing to her.]

Oh, she is very squishy-looking and strange. I had a twin brother, but we fought all of the time.

I'll walk ya along all the cells and you can peek in to see if you see 'im or not.

( She laughs. ) Most babies do look like that, yeah. But, she'll grow out of it. Oh? What happened to him?

That would be good, thank you. [She had never been in a prison before. Is this where Humans put their bad people?]

[Another studious look and she tilted her head. Hmm..] Well, that's good then. I.. I'm not sure what happened to him, miss. We haven't seen each other in a long time.

( R saying he's not hungry causes Maggie to furrow her brow. If he doesn't eat, won't he die? It's something they've never had to answer since the other walkers seem to eat all the time. It worries her a bit since she's afraid he will get hungry, then he'll end up hurting someone. )

We always have leftover animal parts from when Daryl goes huntin' and cleans 'em. I can start bringing you those.

( Of course that would mean having to explain to the others why she was taking it, but she would do it if it meant R ate something other than her friends and family. )

You think about it, okay? I need to get Judith back to the others before they come lookin' for me.

( Maggie takes her to the row of cells so she can start looking in them. )

I'm sorry to hear that about your brother. I have a younger sister named Beth and I did have a brother named Shawn, but Shawn was killed by a walker.

[She didn't see anyone familiar yet, mostly strange people she did not recognize. Ara poked her head in one and ducked out when she saw the person sleeping. No Richard there either. Sorry seeping Human.]

I sort of miss him but we were rivals... Maybe I can find him again, but don't tell him if you do see him, please. [She had her pride as a sibling to think about after all.] Oh.. I'm sorry too.. They are not very good people outside. Did you get them so they could not hurt anyone else?

( Maggie's sure they'll find Richard sooner or later. Rick's changed and is now allowing people in, unlike before. )

I promise I won't. And, I'm not sure. I wasn't there when it happened. He'd gone out to hunt, and came back after he'd gotten bitten. He got real sick, then died before comin' back as one of 'em. ( She leaves out the part where their dad put him in the barn, thinking there was going to be a cure. No sense in telling a little girl that. )

[Another cell with Humans but no Richard, she knew they could find him, or Richard would find them as she kept an eye out for the scruffy man she called Rick. Maybe he was helping him.]

Thank you, he isn't supposed to know since he's my brother and he'd pick on me. I'm sorry he had to turn into one of the sick people outside. [She had seen and heard a lot of bad things by now, Maggie. Chewing her lip with the corner of one tiny fang she looked back the way they came.] Did you have other family that was okay?

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We hope it's okay if she tags, she's not from Walking Dead. <3

I love crossovers, especially from fandoms I know so you're good. :D <3

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Me too and thanks! :) This brat's an OC from UW and I love Walking Dead.

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